Serbian Police Shot Dead, Kosovo Blamed For Terrorism

ILLUSTRATION OF UNSPLASH/Anton Lukin/Savski Venac, Belgrade, Serbia/

JAKARTA - A Serbian police officer was killed and another injured in a shooting during a routine vehicle inspection near the Bosnian border.

The Serbian government blamed its neighboring Kosovo for acts of "terrorism", but Kosovo said the incident should not be politicized.

The two Balkan countries have cracked relations, which are sometimes interspersed by violence, with Serbia refusing to recognize the independence of its former province.

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police stopped Serbian licensed cars carrying two people, one of whom came out and shot an officer in the chest with a gun and the other on the shoulder, before fleeing.

One of the police officers was killed and the other was in stable condition at the hospital. At the scene, investigators found Kosovo's passport under the name Artan Hajrizi, and a German identity card.

"He killed a policeman, he committed acts of terrorism that clearly came from Kosovo (and) the Albania structure. This is not a coincidence," Dacic told reporters.

In a brief interview conducted by Pristina's Insajderi news portal, a man who identified himself as Artan Hajrizi speaking from Germany, said his brother Faton Hajrizi had stolen the documents.

Kosovo media reports state that Faton Hajrizi had escaped from prison in Kosovo earlier this month.

"We argue that this issue should not be politicized, but handled from a security perspective, as well as from a professional and legal point of view," Prime Minister Kosovo Albin Kurti told reporters.

Kosovo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs advised its citizens to be careful in Serbia and avoid the shootout area. Police deployed drones and helicopters to hunt down suspects.